Circuits draw electrical power at a rate that is determined by the functionality and efficiency of the circuits. For example, a wireless access point (AP) might receive 12.95 W using traditional Power over Ethernet (PoE) technology based on IEEE 802.3af, which is a technology that describes a technique for transmitting data and power to remote devices in an Ethernet network.
Circuits may be configured to use more or less power under certain circumstances. For example, a computer may enter powersave mode during which a subset of available circuitry is used in order to conserve power. However, in these cases the, e.g., computer is not aware of the power that is available. In systems that may be exposed to more than one level of power, this may not be optimal.
These are but a subset of the problems and issues associated with supplying power to a circuit, and are intended to characterize weaknesses in the prior art by way of example. The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.